Pest and insect damage to materials, fabrics, and garments is a growing problem. As a non-limiting example, insect damage to textiles in the United States is estimated at $200 million annually. Fabric and garment insect infestations are making a comeback because most of the insecticides formerly used to control insects and pests, such as dieldrin and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (“DDT”), have been banned.
Accordingly, as people travel, or as containers are shipped from location to location, there is a growing incidence of pest or insect infestation of garments transported in luggage and materials shipped in containers. For example, bed bugs may be found in many hotels, motels, homes, or other accommodations, even in highly sanitary conditions. During the day, nocturnal insects, such as bedbugs, disappear in crevices associated with mattresses, box springs, sheets, upholstery, garments, clothes, pillows, towels, or the like. Even when these materials are examined, it is common for these insects, or the eggs of these insects, to go undetected and packed with garments and transported in luggage.